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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

BETTY Q’S BASIC CHIFFON CAKE

Betty Q is a “bloggerista commenter” legend if you haven’t known yet. Cusinera is one of her avid fans=) I saw Betty Q’s comments in Market Manila and I can’t help but be drawn into her as she leaves tips, recipes and foodie ideas that sprung into her mind (may it be while relaxing in her bath or searching through her Tupperware containers for recipes). She has graces Busog! Sarap! a few times and have been leaving valuable tips in different food blogs here and there. What makes me a fan of her is that, she unselfishly shares her recipes, tips and cooking knowledge whenever she can. I think she’s a foodie angel and I dedicate this post to you (Betty Q)…my way of saying A BIG BIG THANKYOU!!!! *HUGS*

I called this “Betty Q’s Basic Chiffon Cake” as this is the basis for her Mamon (Filipino Sponge Cake), Leche Flan Chiffon Cake and famous Mocha Cake or Roll. Remember my first Leche Flan Chiffon Cake with that eggy taste that I didn’t like? Oh my! I’m telling you right now…this is “IT”!!!! Everything that I’ve been looking for…fluffy as the clouds, no eggy aftertaste and it only slightly shrinks on the sides once cooled down. It is so good that I give this 10 out of 10!

Bottom Left & Right: Add in your vegetable oil, water, vanilla extract and egg yolks and beat till well combine and the batter becomes smooth. Strain the batter through a fine metal sieve to remove lumps.

MERINGUE~

Top Left & Right: In a clean glass or metal bowl, whip eggwhites, salt and cream of tartar, until it looks like frothy shaving cream.

Bottom Left & Right: Gradually add in your sugar and continue whipping until it becomes just like smooth icing. When you lift your beater it will leave a peak with curled end, this is a good indication you have got the right consistency.

Top Left & Right: Add meringue in 3 additions to the batter by folding gently. Keep folding until you have an even cake batter and no visible streaks.

Bottom Left & Right: If your making mamon, sprinkle some water on the mamon tin and fill it up 3/4 capacity. Smooth the top surface to eliminate as much bubbles.

~ Bake in 180C for approximately 50-55 minutes, depends on how large your baking tins….small one have shorter cooking time and larger ones have longer cooking time. I tend to check after 35 minutes and see if the top has turned into nice golden colour and once the middle part springs back after I’ve put a slight dent with my finger…that means it is cooked and you have to remove it out of the oven. If you’re just doing this recipe as a chiffon cake or individual mamons, you have to invert the tins on a cooling rack after taking them out of the oven till they’re completely cooled down.

~ To remove the mamons out of their tins, I gently separate the frill edges first from the sides of the tins and with a paring knife slowly detach the lower side parts till I can completely remove the mamon with my fingers.

NOTES:

This recipe is just right for a 9x13 pan, here in Brisbane, Australia the closest baking pan was this Anolon.

ANOLON BAKING PAN (22cm x 32cm)

You can use a large chiffon baking tin, mamon molds or ensaymada molds.

@Anonymous~ For the round aluminium pan (22cm across/6cm depth) and only use 1/2 of this basic chiffon recipe. If you add the leche flan topping, you will also have some chiffon mixture for a extra large mamon tin.

I'm planning to use this chiffon recipe to make a different cake frosted by buttercream. If I bake this chiffon cake in round pans (not mamon pans) about 9 x 2" do I also sprinkle it with water before putting the batter in? Thank you.

@Anonymous~ Might as well sprinkle some water, just in case=) The only thing you have to remember not to overfill because you have to put the pan upside down once the chiffon cake is cooked on the wire rack. Make sure your pan is not non stick because the chiffon have to have sides to grip.

Thanks for a great recipe, am making it for my mother in laws bday as she is lactose intolerant... Just curious... If I was to make this ube or pandan flavor, how would I go about it...? I'm in Sydney so if u know of any flavor products I could buy in Australia to make it? Thanks a lot! - Mae

@Anonymous~ If you're going to try this with ube or pandan flavour, look for the sticky kind not the watery kind...add the chosen flavour to the batter mixture well before folding the batter with the meringue mixture. When it comes to pandan flavour, I use the sticky kind which I find in Asian Stores here in Brisbane, small plastic cylinderical bottles, they are stronger in taste and smell=) Here's a link of a picture of the bottle: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eaKbvlcIK10/TI2dwD4d_gI/AAAAAAAAJX8/9a-T8JJDXa8/s1600/pandan+extract+bottle+%28own%29.jpg

Hi! First of all I am a fan of yours! :) i'm in Australia too, Sydney to be exact, but i can't find cake flour here. Can you recommend a store or do you have alternative for cake flour. Thanks a million! :)

@Anonymous~ you can use plain flour but take off 2 tablespoons out of it per cup....use U.S measuring cups and spoons as the Australian tbpn equals to 4 tspns while the U.S tbpn equals to 3 tspns. You can buy cake flour from Coles or Woolworths(they sell it in boxes)...even in large Chinese grocery (they sell it in plastic packaging), go to their flour section..if they have it, it will be next to their potato starch, etc.=)

First of all, let me tell you that I became your fan, I had tried your Mamon recipe yesterday and I baked it again this morning, My first try was not a success, maybe because I was in a hurry and didn't wait for the egg whites to be frothy, but today it was a hit and my children loved it. I want to thank you for that, isa kang cusinera Diva, again thank you and please add more recipes and marami kang followers, Lord bless you.

@Nilram6~ Thanks very much for your beautiful feedback comment, glad that your Mamon was a success. It is always good to hear that my recipes actually works in other peoples homes =) That is my main goal here in Busog! Sarap!, for people to be able to actually follow & cook what is written in my blog, not to just admire it and say "oh that looks good".

this looks like a good mamon recipe. will try to make it with my daughter. do you have the mocha roll/cake recipe that you mentioned made famous by Betty Q? would appreciate it if you'll also share it. thanks. more power to you.

@Anonymous~ siguro =) I haven't personally tasted Pianono or baka I've eaten one when I was younger but I don't know the name. Maybe you can use this Mamon recipe as it calls for sponge cake or if you want to try Oggi's Pianono, ito iyong link: http://oggi-icandothat.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/pianono-pionono-pio-nono.html

thanks for the info bout the chiffon cake especially that no need of greasing the pan or not using the non stick pan.. thats why i dont make successful chiffon cakes as i always grease the pan.. i will try to make the mamon one of these days...can i use frozen ube or ube yam in a bottle for ube flavpur for the mamon?tnx

Anonymous~ if you use frozen ube or ube yam to flavour your mamon, it may not rise as both forms of ube are too heavy...use flavour essence or paste to add to your batter before mixing it with your meringue =)Thanks for reading the useful tips on the comment area!

@Anonymous~ This is what I do when I have a different pan size compare to the one indicated in the recipe, if its smaller...it will cook faster, I usually start checking if the cake is done halfway the cooking time to avoid overbaking it, if not done yet..I usually give it a 5-10 minutes further baking then recheck again, redo the 5 minutes if still not completely cooked yet. Sorry my method is not really scientific or mathematically correct but it works for me =)

Yes, bake at the centre of the oven...always fantastic result. I've tried saving time by cooking 2 pans at the same time, I always burns one of them and the other takes longer to bake.

@Anonymous~ In the ingredients list and cooking procedure the batter and meringue are listed separately...directions are shown how to make them individually...after you've done the two mixtures, you then mix them together to form the cake mixture.

Hi!I have always been a chiffon baker and lover of it since i was in the Philippines,i loved its softness and its height.but when i came to live and work here in Italy i find it hard to achieve the right result after baking,half way it looks like its going well but when its done and i take it out in the oven it began to slowly sank in the middle as if someone had pressed it down.ive even bought aluminum baking pans(9x13 and 9" and 10")from the philippines because i cant find it anywhere here,since the non-stick pan is not suitable for this type of cake.i dont know what happened, i had the same recipe and same ingredients and follow well the procedure but i dont know why i cant be able to bake it well.was it because they say the oven here doesnt have a hole at the back where the heat escapes or exhaust,or maybe the leivito(same as baking powder)that they used here is too much?funny whenever i went home for a vacation i bake chiffon at home to see if it had the same result as what i had here in italy,but no i had successfully baked it the way it should be,the taste there is and the softness but the height is uneven.pls help me.thank you in advance!

Hi Josephine, sorry for the late reply....base on my research, baking success depends also where you live, if you live sea level or high up. Altitude affects the liquid and leavening agents on your cakes. That's the reason why when you're in Italy, you chiffon baking is not successfull...you might be in High Altitude area, you might need to adjust some of the measurements. Google "Altitude Effects on Baking"....it will shows you a whole list of articles relating to it =)